


Harry Potter - the girl with hazel eyes

by Rascal Fury (cat_the_killer)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Female Harry Potter, Good Dudley Dursley, Good Dursleys, Good Petunia Evans Dursley, Harry has a nice childhood, Harry looks like Lily, Nice Dudley Dursley, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sirius Black Never Went to Azkaban, Sirius and Remus might be together but who knows Harry certainly doesn't, at least he is to Harry, the rat rots there instead of him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:34:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26899774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cat_the_killer/pseuds/Rascal%20Fury
Summary: What if... and what if... and what if... uh and maybe what if... Wait... Did I just fix it?A HP AU no one asked for but I needed to see
Comments: 17
Kudos: 118





	1. The one with the Zoo

_Petunia Dursley scrunches up the letter in her hands, trying hard to will her hands to stop trembling. She sniffs silently, not wanting her husband to hear her give out as much as a whimper, and raises her head to look at the two children playing with the wooden blocks._

_There is her son with round pink cheeks and bulky hands, sitting next to her niece and watching her put the blocks atop of each other with a mischievous grin on his face. Her niece is working with a deep concentration of a one-year-old, rushing the building of her tower as fast as her tiny clumsy hands allowed her. Whenever her tower was relatively high enough, Dudley would strike out and destroy the whole thing. The girl will squeak in joy upon seeing the tower collapse and start all over again so her cousin can do it one more time. They were adorable._

_Harry. That is the girl’s name. Short for Heather. Petunia feels foolish now. Over a year ago her sister sent her a brief letter letting her know that she was an aunt and that her child’s name is Harry. Petunia didn’t bother to read the whole thing and threw it into the trash as soon as she had seen the baby’s name. She didn’t want to know any more. And for over a year she thought that she had a nephew named Harry. It didn’t even occur to her that it might be a girl._

_And now here she is. Her sister is dead and all that is left of her is her little daughter. Harry. The girl looks so much like Lily with her dark red hair and little button nose. Except for those hazel eyes. And that ugly scar on her forehead. Petunia sniffs again and redirects her gaze toward her husband._

_Vernon has been pacing in the dining room for about 15 minutes now, muttering under his nose. As if the man could feel his wife’s eyes on him he stops his pacing and looks Petunia in the eyes._

_„We can take her to an orphanage,“ he suggests._

_„Or maybe... you said she has a godfather, right? Well, the bastard should step up and take her in.“_

_Petunia sighs and throws one last glance at the children before facing her husband head-on. „No,“ she states. It takes Vernon aback._

_„I lost my sister, Vernon. Lily is dead. My little sister is dead. She...“ Petunia’s breath hitches and tears well up in her eyes. But they don’t spill. She is a strong woman. „I wasn’t there for her. I haven’t seen her in years. And Harry... she looks so much like her. I can’t, Vernon. I just can’t.“ She shakes her head._

_Vernon doesn’t look happy. He looks at the children playing for the very first time and mellows just a tiny bit. „Well, at least Dudley seems to like her.“_

_Vernon doesn’t like it, but he loves his wife. And as much as he loathes those weirdos in funny clothes that the Potters seemed to be as well, it’s not as if they couldn’t afford to raise a second child._

\---

„Up! Get up! Now!“

Harry Potter, ten years old, opens her hazel eyes and looks up blearily at her aunt.

„Five more minutes,“ she groans.

„Now,“ her aunt says sharply and pulls the duvet off her.

„You wanted to help me prepare the birthday breakfast for Dudley. So up! Up! You are not backing on me now.“

The girl groans again but gets up. She quickly dresses up and walks out of her room and down the stairs into to kitchen where she stands in front of the stove. Petunia gives her niece a brief smile and shows her how to prepare a fried egg.

By the time Dudley and Uncle Vernon came down the stairs, the two of them has just finished up. Harry places the last of the platers on the table and then rushes toward Dudley. She throws herself around his neck, which was quite an accomplishment since he didn’t have any, and chants ‚Happy birthday‘ to him. Dudley smiles and hugs her back, then kneels in front of the big pile of gifts to counts them. Harry kneels next to him and helps him count while the adults sit at the table and watch them in amusement.

„Twenty-seven,“ Dudley says in the end, scrunching his eyebrows.

Harry suddenly feels her spider senses tingling.

„Last year I had twenty-eight!“ the boy glares at his parents, his face turning red.

Harry jumps on her legs. „Wait here!“ she tells him and rushes up the stairs. When she comes back she carries a messily wrapped little box. She pushes it into Dudley’s hands, smiling like a sun. „That’s twenty-eight.“ Dudley perks up. He hastily opens the gift, pulling out a colourful bracelet.

„Do you like it?“ she asks. „I made it myself!“

Dudley considers the bracelet and then turns to Harry, smiling. „I love it!“ he declares and then asks her to help him tie it around his hand.

Petunia has a feeling that her son doesn’t really like the bracelet but he still pretends for Harry. It is sweet, she thinks. Her Dudykins doesn’t hesitate to speak up or yell his frustration whenever he doesn’t like something but he surely has a sweet spot for his cousin and likes to make her happy.

A far too soon her little angel redirects his gaze toward her. „I’m a year older,“ he says, pouting. „I should get more presents than the last year!“

Petunia can smell the tantrum coming, so she quickly promises her Dudykins another present. Dudley calms down and the children seat themselves at the table. Harry makes sure that her cousin notices her eye-roll.

„You big baby,“ she whispers into his ear once the adults no longer pay them attention. „Do you really need another gift just so you would have more than the last year?“

„Oh shush,“ Dudley grins. „If they get me more gifts now, they have to get more of them for you too on your birthday. Don’t pretend you don’t like that.“

Harry just shrugs and eats her breakfast. No child would argue about getting more presents. Soon the doorbell rings and Uncle Vernon goes to open the door for Dudley’s best friend Piers Polkiss.

Harry hates Piers. He has always been a bully and dragging Dudley down with him. Harry has never liked Dudley picking on others. Thankfully, once she makes it obvious that she is upset, Dudley tries his hardest to make her happy and stops. Unfortunately, he returns to the bullying whenever Harry isn’t around to pout at him.

Soon they are all in front of the gates of the Zoo. Dudley and Piers are quick to run away toward the first interesting animal but Harry is held back by Uncle Vernon.

„I’m warning you, no funny business,“ he glares at her.

Harry and Uncle Vernon has always had a complicated relationship. Harry doesn’t think that Vernon hates her per se, but he has been a lot more strict with her than he has been with Dudley. It might be because he considers her to be a trouble-maker. Harry has never done anything bad, she thinks, it’s just that a lot of strange things happens around her.

A perfect example was the last year amusement park to where the Dursleys took Harry on her birthday. Harry, Dudley and Harry’s friend Martha snuck to the haunted mansion. All would be well and dandy if they hadn’t had to call the firefighters to get Harry down from the roof of a building half a mile away from the park. Vernon had been furious back then. It didn’t matter how many times Harry swore she had no idea how she got there. She just got spooked and suddenly she was not in the haunted house anymore. Thankfully, Aunt Petunia managed to calm Uncle Vernon down and Harry wasn't grounded in the end but it was a close call.

Fortunately, it seems that nothing wrong is going to happen today. Harry and the boys get large chocolate ice-creams and Harry has a lot of fun teasing Dudley about how similar he was to a gorilla they watch scratching its butt while eating them. Dudley tries to get back at her by comparing her to a red panda, but Harry ends up cooing at the animal about how cute it is. The boys have to drag her away from it.

They have lunch, though Harry barely eats anything, full from the too-large ice-cream, and then they all head to the reptile house.

Dudley and Piers, who have been quite bored with the animals ever since the butt-scratching gorilla, perk up a lot at the giant snakes. Dudley quickly finds the largest one and the children stick their noses to the glass to watch it. Too bad that the snake has not been in the mood to entertain them.

„Oh, come on, do something!“ Dudley whines, tapping at the glass to wake up the snake.

Harry punches him lightly on the shoulder. „Don’t do that. Poor thing, imagine how bored it must be. No company all day long but annoying people rapping at the glass and disturbing it all day long. If it was I in there in the tank, I would die of boredom,“ she huffs.

Dudley seems to be subdued, Piers just rolls his eyes at her. But the strangest reaction Harry gets from the snake. It wakes up, slowly raises its head, looks right into the girl’s eyes and winks.

Harry stares. Then she slowly turns her head toward the boys, wondering whether they saw the same thing she did. Judging from the shocked expressions, they did. Both of them turn their heads toward her too and they stare at each other for a little bit. Both of the boys give her that look, pushing her to do something.

Harry gulps and turns her head toward the snake again. She hesitates and then winks back. The snake stares at her some more and then jerks its head toward Dudley and raises its eyes to the ceiling. It gives Harry another look that clearly says ‚Yep, I get that every single day‘.

Harry chuckles. „Sorry about him. He is actually not that bad when you get to know him,“ she says and the boys next to her jerk.

„What-?!“ Piers yelps and stares at her some more, totally baffled.

Harry turns her head toward him in confusion. „What what?“ she asks.

„What was that?“ he throws back.

„Nothing,“ she shrugs. „I just apologised for Dudley.“

„You didn’t!“ he points a finger at her. „You were just...just... hissing!“

Harry frowns. „I wasn’t hissing. I was talking normally,“ she defends herself and looks at Dudley for support.

Her cousin looks quite pale. „No Harry,“ he shakes his head. „You weren’t talking. You were just hissing. It was rather scary, actually.“

Chills travel down Harry’s spine. She was not hissing! But the scared looks the boys give her make her very uneasy.

She takes a step back from the glass, gives the snake one last look and then marches away, Dudley and Piers following her.

They quickly find Vernon and Petunia and drag them out of the reptile house. The adults notice immediately that something is off.

„Aw dears, did the big snakes scare you?“ Aunt Petunia gushes at them and the children, still rather shocked, nod their heads in affirmation. That saves them for further questioning.

That evening after Aunt Petunia sends them to bed Dudley sneaks into her bedroom to talk.

„What was that thing with the snake?“ he asks her, whispering.

„I don’t know,“ she whispers back. „I just apologized to it for you disturbing it. Did it really sound to you like hissing?“

Dudley nods vigorously. „Should we tell something to mum and dad?“ he asks back.

Harry thinks about it. Maybe aunt and uncle would know something about it. But then she remembers the warning Uncle Vernon gave her and shakes her head. She really doesn’t want to get into trouble because of something weird again, no matter that they didn’t have to call the fire-fighters now.

\---

The things come back to normal the following day. Harry doesn’t even know how and suddenly the summer holidays are there.

It is not that Harry hates summer. But the biggest problem for her is Dudley’s dumb-ass friends who constantly crowd the house. Harry loves her cousin, but his friends have always been terrible. Same as Piers, she thinks that all of them are big bullies who are a bad influence on Dudley. She has always had a feeling that they would pick on her too if they haven’t been afraid of Dudley. She didn’t know how to feel about it.

So, most of the time she spends with her friends, Martha and Scarlet, wandering around the neighbourhood or helping her Aunt Petunia in the garden. She loves tending to the garden with her aunt. Aunt Petunia has always been very meticulous about the flowers and though Harry has never understood why everything had to be impeccable, she does admire her aunt’s work. Her favourite spot is the bed of lilies she and her aunt planted in the memory of her mother.

Aunt Petunia has never liked talking about Harry’s parents. When Harry was little, she would pester her with questions that her aunt made the best effort to avoid. Sometimes she even got mad and yelled at her. In the end, Harry stopped asking. But when they tended together to the lilies, Aunt Petunia’s tongue would untie and she would tell her a quick story or two.

Sometimes it was just a single sentence, a quick comment during their conversation. Your mum loved chocolate pudding. Lily, I and your grandmother were gardening together like this too. But sometimes the two of them ended up sitting on the garden chairs for half an hour, Aunt Petunia reminiscing about her childhood and Harry drinking in every single word. Harry loved those times.

But with the days flying by Harry starts to feel unease building in her gut. She has no idea what awaits her once the summer ends. Of course, no child wants the summer to end and the school to start. The problem is, Harry has no idea what kind of school is she going to start.

When September comes Harry is supposed to go off to secondary school. Dudley is going to Smeltings, which is Uncle Vernon’s old school. But Harry isn’t going to Smeltings. She wanted to go to St. Genevieve where Martha and Scarlet are going to go. But when she asked her aunt she just pursed her lips and informed her that she had already been accepted to a school. But when Harry asked her what kind of school, Petunia just snapped at her and changed the subject. „I will tell you when I will tell you. Now help me with the laundry, young lady!“ And that was it.

Harry tried to ask her later as well, but with no success. „Your birthday,“ her aunt promised her in the end. „Wait till your birthday, I will tell you then.“ That was all she managed to get.

Harry is really excited about her birthday but not because of her aunt’s promise. And not because of the twenty-nine presents she is to supposed to get.

Harry’s birthday has always been the time when the Dursley’s household drowned in the sea of chaos. All thanks to special guests who move into the Dursley’s guest room for a few days. Harry and Dursley love them but Harry is quite sure that her aunt and uncle hate them with a passion. They have never said anything though, just silently waited for their unwanted quests to leave. Harry suspects that they have some kind of deal, but doesn’t really care.

When the bell rings in the evening two days before her birthday she already knows who it is and races to the door. She throws the door open and her eyes sparkle once she sees the two men she has been waiting for.

„Sirius! Uncle Remus!“ she squeaks and throws herself into the waiting arms of her godfather and favourite uncle.


	2. The one with a birthday surprise

The day before Harry’s birthday is totally awesome. Sirus wakes up both Harry and Dudley at an ungodly hour of 6 a.m. and the first thing the three of them do is to sneak into Petunia and Vernon’s bedroom and draw silly pictures with a marker on the face of sleeping Uncle Vernon. Miraculously, he doesn’t wake up even when Dudley manages to stab him with the marker to the eye.

They try to do the same thing to Uncle Remus, but once they step into the guest room he is supposed to sleep in, a big bucket of a truly horrible khaki green paint falls on their heads. Uncle Remus, sitting in a chair under the window with a book and a satisfied smirk on his face, waves at them mockingly. „Remus Maybelline Lupin!“ Sirius booms then. „I wouldn’t have expected this from you, young man!“

Remus just chuckles and shakes his head. „That’s not my middle name.“

Once Aunt Petunia finds out about the prank she raises a hell because they have destroyed her carpet with that hideous paint. Somehow, Remus manages to clean it up in a few minutes without a single drop of the paint on the carpet. It even looks better than before! Whatever he has done, he refuses to help Sirius and the children. The three of them manage to wash the paint off their skin, but all of their hair turned khaki green and they can’t do anything about it.

In the end, Sirius, Dudley and Harry have no other choice but to accept that their heads were going to be green for the day. Harry’s is by far the most hillarious since the colour only spilled at the top of her head and the rest of her hair was the usual red. Sirius couldn’t stop laughing for a whole ten minutes once she got out of the shower, not caring at all that his own moustache was green.

No one bothered to inform Uncle Vernon about his own make-over the whole morning. Harry wondered whether Uncle Vernon even looked into the mirror since he woke up but didn’t dare to ask just to see how long it would last. Surprisingly, Aunt Petunia kept her mouth shut as well, not even twiching her eyebrow the first time she had seen her husband that day. Uncle Vernon did his usual morning routine and then headed to work. A two hours later he calls them just so he could yell at them for a solid half an hour – he has finally found out about the drawings.

They tell Aunt Petunia not to bother with lunch and go relax a little and the two men take children out. They go to a shopping mall where Sirius immediately pulls them into a joke shop where they spend a solid hour an a tremendous amount of money. Remus then rushes them to a fast food restaurant where they have lunch. With bellies full of burgers and fries they then go to see a movie.

Sirius gets everyone a big bucket of popcorn and then proceeds to throw the contents of his around himself in random intervals instead of eating it once the film starts. He accompanies it with shouting or very loud random coments at the characters. Once he even jumps up from his seat, stumbles and falls down onto the people sitting in a row in front of them. In the end, the security shows up and throws him out.

Harry and Dudley, hats on their heads to hide their hair, make themself as little as possible in front of the glare of the security guard. Remus, on the other hand, looks him dead in the eye, tells him that the children are with him and swears that he has never met Sirius before in his life. When the three of them get out of the cinema, Sirius is waiting for them.

„Remus Eustace Lupin! You damn traitor!“ he belows.

„That’s not my middle name,“ Remus shrugs and walks by him, not detered at all.

They wander some more and then they head home. Of course, the day doesn’t end there. The first thing Sirius does is prank Uncle Vernon with a well placed fart cushion. Uncle Vernon, face red from fury, jabs his finger into Sirius‘ chest.

„One more time and I’m throwing you out of my house!“

Of course, no one takes him seriously. Harry doesn’t believe her uncle would be capable of throwing out her godfather. Not because she believes that Uncle Vernon has a nice and tender heart under all of that fat. No, she just knows how much of a cockroach Sirius can be once he decides he doesn’t want to leave.

Uncle Vernon’s mood lifts a little when Remus pranks Sirius with the fart cushion too.

„Remus Nicodemus Lupin!“ „That’s not my middle name.“

\---

Harry went to bed rather tired but she has spent a whole two hours turning in her bed and rubbing her eyes, trying not to fall asleep. Five minutes before the midnight she sits up in her bed, grabs a pillow and throws it at Dudley.

Whenever Remus and Sirius come together and stay overnight, Remus gets the guest room, Sirius takes Dudley’s room and Dudley ends up on a futon in Harry’s room. He often complains quite a lot about it, claiming that Sirius more likely doesn’t sleep in his bed so there is no reason for him to sleep on that stupid futon. Harry never got why Dudley thought so.

Nevertheless, Harry is always happy to share room with Dudley. They often stay up late, just talking about nonsense. Or, in the cases just like this one, one of them wakes the other in the middle of the night for one reason or the other.

Dudley scowls once the pillow hits him. He bats it away, rolls on the other side and keeps sleeping. Harry doen’t let him thought. The pillow never works, so Harry doesn’t hesitate to turn to plan B and jumps atop of her cousin. „Wakey wakey!“ she whisper-shouts.

Dudley yelps and opens his eyes to give her a mean look. „I hate you.“

„No, you don’t. Guess what time it is,“ she smiles.

Dudley turns his head to glare at the clock. It takes him a while to realize what he is looking at but once he does he is fully awake. The two of them sit in silence, watching the clock with anticipation. Once it strikes midnight, Dudley turns toward his cousin with a big smile.

„Happy birthday Harry!“

\---

The morning of Harry’s birthady is much more peaceful than the previous day. To Harry’s delight, her hair is back to her previous colour and so is Sirius‘ and Dudley’s. There are no pranks that morning, just a series of ‚Happy birthday’s and a delicious pancakes for breakfast. Harry doesn’t notice the tense atmosphere among the adults.

After breakfast she starts to open her presents, begining with Dudley’s. He gives her a cute set of lily hairpins which she just has to wear right now so Aunt Petunia does her hair. She scoffs at her, scolding her choice of clothes after she is done, since they look terrible in combination with such beautiful hairpins. Harry isn’t really bothered by it. She is wearing one of Dudley’s old trousers and shirts that is too small for him but still too large for her. The thing has a few holes in it near the collar and a yellow spot on the sleeve which Petunia can’t get rid off. Harry loves it since it’s really much more comfortable than her dresses.

She opens her gifts one by one until there is only just a tiny envelope left from the horde of her gifts. She raises her gaze toward Sirius and Remus, asuming that it is from them since none of the other gifts were. Sirius gives her a very serius look that just doesn’t belong on his face.

„Well, technicaly that’s not from us. We are getting you your gift later when we go out. And it is not much of a gift but... Harry we need to tell you something,“ he says and then motions her to get the letter. „Go on, open it.“

Harry does. It is a weird letter. It is a little bit yellow and seems to be heavy and old. And it is sealed with a wax seal with a strange emblem. Harry cracks the seal and takes out a similarly old-looking parchment. She reads it, confusion and then disbelief marring her face.

„Hogwarts school of withcraft and wizardry? Yeah, good prank Sirius,“ she huffs, annoyed that her godfather tries such a horrible prank at her birthday.

But Sirius shakes his head. „That is not a prank Harry. You are a witch.“

\---

Yesterday, Harry was just Harry. Just an ordinary girl whose parents died in a car crash and then was raised by her aunt and uncle. The most unusual thing about her was her stupid scar. And today she is eleven and suddenly she is a witch. And so were her parents apparently. And so are Sirius and Remus, she realizes, as Sirius waves his wand around and levitates Petunia precious china around the house.

She is still in a bit of a shock when she, Dudley, Aunt Petunia, Sirius and Remus walk into tiny grubby-looking pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Aunt Petunia scrunches her nose and purses her lips in distaste but says nothing, just follows the two wizards insides, her hands reaching out and grabbing each of the children by shoulder.

The inside of the pub is shabby and dark, very little customers loitering around at this hour of the day. Petunia gives a very disaproving look to the group of old ladies in the corner and the barman, who notices them immediately, reaching for a glass.

„Sirius! The usual?“ he asks.

Aunt Petunia and uncle Remus shot a very deadly look toward Sirius. He fliches as if their looks could kill. Considering that magic exists, Harry thinks it is a very reasonable concern.

„No, Tom,“ Sirius rushes to say. „I can’t. I’m here to get Harry’s school supplies.“

Once the words leave Sirius‘ mouth the soft murmur around them ceases to silence. Harry looks around and notices that every single head turned to look at them.

„Good Lord,“ the barman says, his hands suddenly trembling. „Harry Potter,“ he squeaks.

Suddenly, there is a bunch of people surrounding them and an old wizard is reaching out and grabbing Dudley’s hand, shaking it.

„It’s such an honour Mr Potter, such an honour,“ he almost cries.

Harry looks at the man in confusion, Dudley is utterly baffled, Aunt Petunia looks to be five second away from ripping the man’s arm from the rest of the body and Sirius looks first slightly amused and then bursts laughing. Remus just sighs, suddenly looking very tired.

„I think there is a little misunderstanding,“ Remus says and then motions toward Harry. „This is Harry.“

Everyone falls silent once more. The man still holding Dudley’s hand relieses him and jumps after Harry. Aunt Petunia now looks like she wants to rip his head off.

„Miss Potter. My deepest appologies. How could I be so blind? You look exactly like your mother!“

One of the old women pushes him aside and before Harry knows what is going on, she is shaking hand with her now. „Yes, yes, a spitting image of your mother. But your eyes! You have your father’s eyes.“

Harry ends up shaking hands with everyone in the bar. Aunt Petunia manages to keep her cool until one of the women grabs Harry’s hand for the third time. „That is enough!“ she states and pulls Harry away from them. „We do not have time for this.“

They end up in a small, walled courtyard behind the pub, Harry’s head still spinning slightly.

„What was that? How come everyone knew Harry’s name? How come they thought I was Harry? Is Harry famous?“ Dudley fires an onslaught of guestions.

Sirius, still smiling like a lunatic, walks toward the wall, pulls his wand out and starts counting the bricks. Remus looks at Petunia, raising his eyebrow in a question. Petunia resolutely shakes her head.

„Harry is kind of famous, yes,“ Remus admits hesitantly, still watching Petunia. The woman’s eyes are starting to take a dangerous gleem.

„But let’s not talk about it now,“ Remus gives them a quick smile and then glances at Sirius. „Ready?“

Sirius grins at them. „Ready. Watch this,“ he tells them and then taps at a single brick.

Harry and Dudley watch in awe how an archway is created in the wall, revealing a cobbled street. Harry’s eyes goes wide as she takes it in. It is officially the best day of Harry’s life. She and Dudley basically run from one shop to the other, amazed by everything they lay their eyes on. The adults barely manage to force them to slow down to buy Harry’s books and supplies.

There aren’t any incidents like the one in the pub until they enter the wand shop. Mr Ollivander – the owner of the shop – is a weird old man who manages to seriusly freak Harry out. She tries dozens of wands in his shop and none seems to be the right one and Mr Ollivander gives her that weird look every once and then that Harry feels like he stares right at her soul. It gives her chills.

It doesn’t get any better even after she finally gets her wand. Mr Ollivander just chants ‚curious‘ under his breath and when she asks what exactly is curious, those piercing eyes of his immediately flicks toward her scar. Before he says anything, Aunt Petunia smacks regular muggle money on the counter, takes Harry’s hand and draggs her out of the shop, silently fumming. Harry doesn’t dare to question her.

Harry still doesn’t have pergamen and ink and quil, but it doesn’t seem she will get them. Aunt Petunia takes a single glance at the quils and forbids Remus from buying them. („Quils!“ she exclaims, exasperated. „No, no, no way. Pens and notebooks, I’m buying you pens and notebooks. Don’t you dare speak a word Remus!“) The only thing Harry is missing are the robes.

The shop they end up in front of is called Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions and Harry can’t wait to be done with this one. She hates buying clothes.

„Harry, sweetie, do you mind getting the clothes on your own? Remus, Sirius and I need to go do something,“ Aunt Petunia says, lips pursed in a weird grimace.

Harry pulls a grimace of her own but nods and flicks her gaze toward Dudley. He takes a step toward her, signaling that he will go with her, but Sirius leans toward him and whispers something into his ear. Dudley makes a puzzled face and then takes a step back, looking at her guiltily.

So Harry enters the shop alone. Madam Malkin smiles at her kindly once she notices her and ushers her toward a footstool. „Hogwarts too dear?“ she asks and barely waits for her answer before slipping a long robe over her head.

Harry lets her do her job and looks around, her gaze falling upon a boy on the stool next to her. He seems to be of the same age with pale face and blond hair.

„H-hello,“ she tells him uncertainly. He watches her with a scrunched up nose as if he smelled something funny.

„Hello,“ he says, voice clipped.

They are silent for a little while. „You going to Hogwarts too?“ Harry tries to break the ice.

„Obviously,“ he answers coldly.

Harry has a feeling he doesn’t like her very much. Did she do something wrong?

She opens her mouth to try again but the boy doesn’t let her. „You obviously don’t know who I am, do you? Well, it is quite clear who you are. Red hair and hand-me-down clothes. There is no way a person like you should try to act all friendly with a person like me.“

Harry opens her mouth and then promptly shuts it. She has no idea what the boy’s deal is. But before she can question him, the boy is all done and soon he leaves the shop. She can’t say she will miss him. She just hopes there aren’t many boys like that in the Hogwarts.

After she is done she pays for her clothes with money her godfather gave her and exits the shop. In front of the building, the others are already waiting for her. Sirius, Remus and Dudley smile ate her brightly and Aunt Petunia gives her a very hesitant smile. Harry’s gaze travel toward a ball of fur which Dudley cradles in his arms.

„Happy birthday again Harry!“ Sirius sing-songs as Dudley shows her a beautiful white kitten with big blue eyes.


	3. The one with a train

„What about Hedwig?“

Dudley scrunches his nose. He gives Harry a disapproving look and then returns to his play with the kitten.

Harry sighs. Naming a cat is hard. She turns a few pages, flitting her eyes up and down, searching for names.

„Wendelin?“ she inquires again.

„Why Wendelin?“ Dudley asks.

„She sounds interesting,“ Harry shrugs. „It says she was burnt at the stake forty-seven times.“

Dudley looks at her again, but now with confusion on his face. „How could somebody be burnt at the stake more than once?“

Harry looks at the page again and reads silently. Then she chuckles. „It says that wizards and witches used Flame-Freezing charm so the flames wouldn’t hurt them. It is supposed to feel pleasantly tickling. She liked it so she let herself be captured a lot.“

Dudley’s eyes turn wide. „Cool. Can we try it?“

Aunt Petunia, who has been until now engaged in a grown-up talk with Remus in the kitchen, shrieks a resolute ‚NO‘ at them.

„Darn,“ Dudley grumbles and returns his attention to the cat again. „Not Wendelin,“ he adds in an afterthought.

Harry closes the book with an exasperated sigh. „I give up. I’m just gonna call her Selina.“

Dudley erupts in laughter at that. „You know,“ he guffaws, „there were bats in the shop we bought her in. If we bought you one of those, would you call it Bruce?“

Harry gives him a surprised look. „There were bats? Who keeps a bat as a pet?“ she questions.

Dudley grins at her. „There were also owls. Sirius and Remus wanted to buy you one of those. They are apparently very useful since they are used instead of postmen. But mom didn’t want to hear it so the cat was a compromise.“

„Uh-uh,“ she acknowledges, puts the book away and joins Dudley and Selina on the carpet.

\---

Remus and Sirius stay for the rest of summer holiday, to the anguish of Uncle Vernon. Thankfully, Remus manages to force Sirius to tone down the pranks. Harry is still surprised that her godfather survives the whole month, wizard or not.

The day before the school starts is the most chaotic one in Harry’s entire life. She packs and unpacks three times and that is before Aunt Petunia asks her whether did she pack her pens and notebooks. What follows is another packing and unpacking and then she repeats the process one more time because she can’t remember if she has packed her telescope. The telescope is there alright but her wand is missing.

Harry has a small breakdown. She turns the house upside down and when she can’t find it she closes herself into the cupboard under the stairs where she starts crying. Once they find her there Sirius pulls her out, takes her to the living room where he sits her on the couch and consoles her. Once she calms down enough to tell them what is wrong Remus pulls out his wand and waves it. Suddenly, Harry’s own wand appears from under the couch followed by Selina and flies into Remus‘ freehand.

Harry packs her things once more, now keeping an eye out for the thievious cat. When she is done she meets up with her friends to say goodbye. Of course, she would be able to send them letters, but it just wouldn’t be the same.

That evening there is a rap on her door before she gets to a bed. „Hello sweetie, can I come in?“ her aunt asks, already dressed in her nightgown.

Harry nods and her aunt comes inside and sits beside her on her bed. She holds a piece of paper in her hand which she hands over to her. Harry takes it and reads what’s written there. Her eyes widen. „An acceptance letter to St. Genevieve?“ she gives her aunt a puzzled look. „But I have already been accepted to Hogwarts.“

Aunt Petunia takes her lower lip between her teeth and refuses to look into her eyes. She is silent for a pretty long moment and then releases her lip and looks at her. „No one asked you what you want to do. So I’m asking you now. Do you want to go to Hogwarts and become a witch? Or would you rather go to St. Genevieve to be with your friends?“

Harry stares. She hasn’t expected this. She thinks about what brought this on and comes to an unsettling revelation. „You don’t want me to go,“ she states. Her aunt’s head drops in confirmation.

„I’ve never told you about what happened to your parents. To your mom,“ she pauses, her gaze wandering around the room.

„When she was your age, your mother got the exact same letter. Our parents were so proud. A witch in our family. I... I was jealous. A year after year when she came from that school for summer I only grew bitter and bitter. We grew apart. And then we grew up and fell out of touch. That wonderful world she lived in was closed to me and I didn’t ... I thought it would be better that way. Our lives were just too different. And then... and then one day I found you at our doorsteps. And I realized that that world your mother loved so much not only drew us apart, but it also took her away from me forever. My little sister.“

Harry gulps, her throat completely dry. „What happened to my parents?“ she asks.

„There was a war, I’m told,“ Petunia says. „Your mother and father... I don’t completely understand it, but they were targeted by a very bad wizard. He broke into your house and... he killed your parents.“

Petunia’s eyes wels up with tears. Harry feels like she might follow. „Why?“ she asks.

Petunia shakes her head. „I do not know. Remus told me what I know, but he didn’t tell me much. He said... the wizard killed your parents and...“ she pauses again, gulping nervously. „He tried to kill you too.“

Harry is frozen with shock. „Me?!“ she whispers in alarm.

Her aunt’s gaze travels toward her forehead, „That scar, that’s from his attempt. He failed to kill you and the scar is the proof. After that he disappeared. They believe that he died. I don’t know anymore, nor I understand it,“ she says raising her hand when she sees Harry opening her mouth.

„Harry, sweetie, I know that the wizarding world seems to be fascinating and magical, but what I want to say, it’s also dangerous. If I was to lose you too,“ she shakes her head, the tears now falling freely, „I don’t know what I would do.“

Harry hugs her and her aunt buries her face into her hair, crying silently. Harry tears up as well. She hasn’t thought about it like this. She still doesn’t quite understand, but she knows this one thing. Her aunt is afraid of losing her because she believes that the magical world is dangerous. She is probably right. That is why the words she needs to tell her that more painful.

„Will you hate me if I go?“ Harry asks her, the fear of losing her aunt too big for a little eleven-year-old.

Petunia releases her so she can look her in the eye. „Never. And neither will Dudley, I promise you. No matter what, we won’t grow apart. Not like I did with your mother,“ she swears and then raises her hand, offering her pinkie. Harry chuckles and they pinkie swear.

That is the first night in years when Petunia sings Harry a lullaby. Harry is so emotionally wrecked that she doesn’t even have a strength to be embarrassed about it.

\---

From all of the Dursleys and Harry, Dudley is the only one who is totally alright with running head-on at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Uncle Vernon only passes through because he starts running after Dudley, trying to pull him back. Sirius, grinning, just walks confidently right after they pass. Aunt Petunia stays behind with Remus and Harry.

„Have you ever passed through?“ Harry asks her aunt.

„I did when your mother went to Hogwarts.“

She leans toward her trolley and helps her push it toward the barrier. Remus takes a position on the other side, giving her an encouraging smile. „We will go together, alright?“ Harry nods and both of them break into a run. Right in front of barrier Harry tenses but the three of them pass right through.

Harry is immediately amazed. The place is as crowded as the Diagon Alley, but it seems a lot more chaotic with young witches and wizards running around, families saying goodbye and the smoke from the engine drifting over their heads while the cats run under the legs and owls hoot in a weird magical symphony.

Sirius finds an empty compartment and he and Vernon manage to get Harry’s trunk in. Harry, Selina in her hands, tries very hard not to cry, again, as she says goodbye to her family.

„I will write you every single day,“ she promises.

Remus chuckles. „You might want to reconsider. If you write Petunia every day, Sirius will want you to write him every day too. And if you write Sirius every day, he will write to you every day too. Trust me, you do not want Sirius Black to write you every day.“

Sirius and Vernon get back and Harry says her goodbyes to them as well. She hugs Sirius but doesn’t really dare to hug Vernon. Her uncle just claps her awkwardly on her shoulder. „Take care,“ he mutters.

The whistle sounds and so Harry turns toward Dudley. Everyone else she has already exchanged her goodbyes with.

Dudley looks at her sadly.

„I’m quite jealous,“ he admits.

„I will miss you,“ he adds.

The tears finally fall from Harry’s eyes. „I’ll miss you too,“ she sniffs and hugs him fiercely, squishing Selina between them.

The kitten doesn’t like it. She meows and scratches at them, displeased. Harry lets her cousin go.

„We will not grow apart, right?“ she asks, fearful.

„No way! I have a cool cousin who is a witch. No way I am letting you go now,“ he grins and they hug again. Selina escapes the bear hug this time.

Harry barely manages to get on the train before it leaves. She is hesitant to let go. But in the end, both she and Selina are aboard, watching the Dursleys, as well as Sirius and Remus, getting smaller and smaller as the train leaves the station.

Suddenly, Harry is all alone. Thank God for the cat.

She sits inside her compartment and wonders what is she going to do now. If she is to believe Remus, the train ride will take a few hours.

She is saved by the compartment door opening. „Anyone sitting here? Everywhere else is full,“ asks a boy with red hair and freckles.

Harry shakes her head, glad that she is no longer alone. She rarely is what with Dudley around almost constantly.

The boy takes a seat opposite to her. Immediately, Selina jumps on the seat next to him and nuzzles him. The boy smiles and pets her. Harry opens her mouth, trying to say something, anything when the door opens again.

„Hey, Ron,“ two identical red-heads stand there.

„Listen, we’re going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan’s got a giant tarantula down there.“

„Right,“ mumbles the boy – Ron.

The twins turn their heads away from Ron and toward Harry, one of them giving her a wave while the other gives her a soft smile. „Hi,“ the second one says. „We are Ron’s brothers. I’m Fred Weasley, that’s George,“ he introduces them.

„Hi,“ she smiles at them, „I’m Harry.“

„Nice to meet you, Harry,“ George says.

„Well, see you later,“ Fred says and they exchange goodbyes.

„Uh, so,“ Ron says. „I’m Ron. Ron Weasley,“ he introduces himself and extends his hand.

„Hi Ron, I’m Harry. Potter,“ Harry says and shakes his hand.

Ron’s mouth falls open. „Y-you are- You a-a-are H-Harry Potter?!“

Harry looks at him, baffles. „Yes?“ she says hesitantly, not certain where this is going to.

„B-b-b-but...you are a girl!“

\---

Ron certainly is interesting. Once he manages to overcome his bumbling shyness in front of her, his mouth going a mile per second.

Harry learns quite a big deal. Most about herself. It seems she really is famous. Curiously enough, it’s for the defeat of the wizard that killed her parents. Harry doesn’t know what to think about it. She didn’t defeat anybody, she was a baby for crying out loud!

But Harry Potter is still associated with the fall of You-Know-Who and isn’t it just ridiculous not to use the mysterious wizard’s name. The only problem, besides the obvious, everyone thinks that Harry is a boy.

Now, Harry absolutely doesn’t see a problem with that. At least she will get a little less attention than in the Leaky Cauldron on her birthday. She was so not comfortable with that. The downside, she might want to be careful when using her name.

Still, Ron seems to be interesting. He tells her about his brothers, about what he knows about Hogwarts and then spends a tremendous amount of time listening to her explaining him the purpose of the rubber duck.

Their conversation ends on the topic of Hogwarts‘ houses. Harry already has some idea about it but is quite surprised about Ron’s perception of them.

„I don’t know,“ she makes a face, „Is Slytherin really that bad? My godfather says that most of his family is from Slytherin. Even his cousin Andy. I met her last summer, though I didn’t know she was a witch back then. She seemed fine. And her daughter was cool. She was in Hufflepuff, I’m told,“ she defended the two houses Ron obviously didn’t think much of.

„What house are your brothers in?“ she asks.

„Uh, Bill, Charlie and Percy were sorted into Gryffindor. So were my parents, you know.“

„What about Fred and George?“

Ron shrugs. „No idea. They are weirdly mysterious about it. They often tell stories about their time at Hogwarts but it’s weird. They make no sense. Only if they could be sorted into multiple houses at once.“

There are other people that come to the compartment, though none of them stays. The first is the lady with a trolley full of sweets. Harry goes a little overboard and buys a little from everything and then shares with Ron, even though both of them have sandwiches from home.

The second one is a boy looking for his toad and the third one is a girl who also searches for the amphibian. Harry might have made a mistake introducing herself since the fourth one to come is the boy from the Madam Malkin’s. He looks at her critically ad then his gaze travels upwards to her forehead. Harry has a feeling that she is going to start to hate her scar.

Before she can say anything, the boy shoots a disgusted look toward Ron and speaks.

„So it’s true. Harry Potter is in this compartment. And she is a girl,“ he turns her gaze toward Harry again and gives her a critical lookdown. Harry can’t help it but feel self-conscious. She is wearing Dudley’s old clothes again. She can’t help it, she just likes her clothes baggy.

„This is Crabbe and this is Goyle,“ the boy introduces his companions, not waiting for Harry nor Ron to say anything.

„And my name is Malfoy. Draco Malfoy,“ he extends his hand toward her.

Harry doesn’t take it.

„You seem quite eager to talk to me like. Not like at Madam Malkin’s,“ she frowns at him.

Draco tries not to be deterred.

„I must admit, I misjudged back there. It is fortunate that I’m here now. It is without a doubt that you need some help navigating around in our world. You’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others. You certainly don’t want to be friends with the wrong sort. I might be of some help to you. What do you say?“

Harry looks at his extended hand, fury bubbling inside her. „You are right,“ she nods and then pierces him with a glare. „You were of great help. Thank you. After all, there is no way a person like me should be friends with a person like you.“

Draco’s cheeks tinge pink in anger and he storms out of the compartment, his lackeys at his heels.


	4. The one with sorting

The Great Hall is just that, Harry decides. It’s great. She walks together with the other first years, mouth hanging open and eyes roaming around. Professor McGonagall, a tall black-haired witch with a stern face, leads them to a long table where the teachers are sitting and they come to a halt in a line facing the other students. Harry lowers her gaze down from the enchanted ceiling and takes in all of the faces that are staring at them now. She notices Fred and George sitting at the table on the far left. One of them, she can’t say which one, catches her eye, winks at her and motions for her to turn around.

She does so and sees Professor McGonagall placing an old and dirty wizard’s hat atop a four-legged stool. For a few seconds, there is complete silence. Then the hat twitches, rip near the brim opening like a mouth. And the hat sings.

Harry has no idea why she hasn’t anticipated this. All they have to do is to try the hat. It sounds so simple. She knew of course that there was no way they would sort them based on a dance-off like Sirius tried to convince her of. Still, she was worried there might be some kind of test. Trying on the hat is a lot better than having to do some kind of spell.

Professor McGonagall steps forward. „When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,“ she says and peaks into the long scrolls she is holding. „Abbott, Hannah!“

Harry watches with the others as the girl is sorted into the Hufflepuff as is „Bones, Susan“, who is called after her. The next is a boy sorted into the Ravenclaw and after him „Brocklehurst, Mandy“ ends up in the Ravenclaw as well. Brown, Lavender becomes the first Gryffindor and Harry watches her on her way to the table the Weasley twins are seated at. That’s one mystery solved.

Harry starts to become restless about the time „Granger, Hermione“ is called. Hermione sits on the stool for about forty seconds before the hat shouts „Ravenclaw“ and Professor McGonagall calls the next student and Harry wishes for the hat to just hurry up. Some of the students take too long to sort. Such a case is with Neville Longbottom, who is there several long minutes before the hat proclaims him to be a Gryffindor.

When Malfoy is called he walks with a swagger and a pretentious smirk. He sits, the hat is placed on his head and the wait begins. The minutes tick by but the hat remains silent. Harry notices the others‘ restlessness, students and teachers alike. It is by far the longest sorting of the night, even longer than Neville’s. When the hat opens its mouth everybody tenses with anticipation but it then closes it again. Harry looks at Professor McGonagall and the frown that has formed on her forehead. It seems that she doesn’t like this long silence either. Finally, the hat speaks. „Gryffindor!“ it shouts, sounding almost exhausted.

Nobody moves nor makes a sound for the next few moments. Then a tentative clap from the Gryffindor table echoes throughout the hall and the others soon join in. Professor McGonagall takes the hat off Malfoy’s head and motions him to get going. Harry thinks that the boy looks paler than ever before.

„Well, that is a surprise,“ Ron groans. Harry is inclined to agree with him.

Others go to be sorted one by one and with every name called Harry is getting more nervous. And then, at last –

„Potter, Heather!“

Whispers suddenly break out over the hall.

„Potter? Did she say Potter?“

„Heather? Not Harry? Are there other Potters?“

„No, no, just one. Should be Harry.“

Harry feels like an animal at the Zoo. She steps over to the Professor, sits down and holds her breath. The hat is placed on her head and swallows her vision immediately. She waits.

„Hmm,“ says a small voice in her ear. „Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There’s a talent, oh my, and such a kind heart. Well, what do you think dear? Where shall I put you?“

Harry has no answer to that. She thinks of Gryffindor, the house of her parents and Ron’s family. It doesn’t sound bad. Even though Malfoy got sorted there. She thinks of Ravenclaw. She is not half bad, she actually got pretty good grades in her old school, but she still feels not good enough for Ravenclaw. She thinks of Hufflepuff. Everyone seems to underestimate that house but she remembers Dora. She thought she was pretty cool and funny and she was from Hufflepuff. Can’t be all that bad, right? And then there is Slytherin. Ron doesn’t seem to like that house. Harry doesn’t see his point. No matter what, she honestly doesn’t care.

Just pick one, she thinks. Maybe not Gryffindor though. I don’t really like Malfoy.

The hat chuckles.

„Well, alright. If you are sure, the best I think will be to place you in SLYTHERIN!“

The hat shouts the last thing aloud. Harry takes it off, a little smile on her lips as the first tentative claps sound. She hands the hat to the Professor and goes to her new housemates. The cheers grow in intensity as she comes close to the table.

She smiles at a brunette first-year that was sorted earlier and slides in the seat next to her. „Hi, I’m Harry,“ she holds out her hand.

The girl stares at her as if she has just seen a ghost. Or, well, as if she was a muggle who has just seen a ghost. There is a pearly-white ghost with silver stains and gaunt face who doesn’t get such attention as Harry does.

„T-Tracey,“ the girl introduces herself, accepting her hand. „Tracey Davis.“

Other students around her hastily introduce themselves to her, shaking her hand with vigour, and Harry promptly forgets the names of most of them. She ignores the dumb and not really friendly stares of Crabbe and Goyle and turns her attention toward the sorting. There are not many people left and she wants to see Ron being sorted.

As he walks toward the stool her heart squeezes as she realizes that he will probably not be sorted into Slytherin. Ron doesn’t like the house and if the hat gives him the same choice it did to Harry, Harry doubts he will want to get into Slytherin. Not even for her.

„Hufflepuff!“ the hat shouts after mere moments and Harry sees Ron’s slightly dejected face. Yeah, he didn’t like Hufflepuff either. Harry claps politely and tries to catch his eyes, but Ron isn’t looking her way. Oh well, she will speak with him later.

Professor McGonagall rolls up her scroll and takes the stool and the hat away since everybody has already been sorted. Albus Dumbledore stands up and greets them all with a quick hilarious speech. Harry and Tracey laugh and clap together with the rest of the students.

„Is he – a bit mad?“ Harry asks Gemma Farley, a fifth-year prefect seated opposite her.

„Yes, he is very much insane,“ she nods sagely. „Would you pass me the carrots?“

Harry looks down at the table and is surprised to see the dishes piled with food. She hands Gemma the bowl with carrots and then attacks the pork chops. She wishes Dudley could be here with her. He would love all the food.

She chats with Tracey who as it turns out has a muggle mother and is the only one in the near vicinity who knows who Batman is. Not that she likes the comics all that much, but it is still nice to have someone who is on the same boat as she is. Except that unlike her Tracey has always known about the magical world.

After they are all stuffed full of food and sweets the headmaster says a few quite ominous warnings in Harry’s opinion and sends them to their beds. Harry and the other first years follow Gemma and another boy prefect to the Slytherin common room, which happens to be in the dungeons of all places.

Harry pretty much doesn’t care though, her mind already dead set on collapsing on her bed and falling asleep as quickly as possible. That is until she overhears Pansy Parkinson asking Gemma if she can send a letter to her parents.

„Uh, I would like to send one too,“ she raises her hand and the other girls join in.

Gemma smiles at them kindly. „Of course you girls, go write your letters and I will send them to your families. Tomorrow, I will show you where the owlery is.“

Harry and the other girls quickly venture to their room to do just that. Harry finds her luggage is already there together with Selina. She pets the cat, fishes out a pen and paper and writes two quick notes to the Dursleys and to Sirius and Remus. She hands them to Gemma and returns to her room to find Selina being petted and coed at by her new roommates.

„She is so cute!“ Pansy shrieks and squishes her. Selina doesn’t like that and scratches her hand. This mollifies Pansy a little bit.

Though they all are tired, none of them goes to bed right away. Instead, they chat and play with Selina until they pass out one by one. Harry falls asleep feeling happy, her final though being a wish for Dudley to be here with her as well.

\---

The next morning starts pretty well right until Harry leaves the comfort of the Slytherin common rooms and come in contact with the rest of the students.

„There, look.“

„Where?“

„That one with the red hair and glasses.“

„That’s hi- err, her?

„Did you see her face?“

„Did you see her scar?“

It takes the trip to the Great Hall for breakfast for Harry to get fed up with the whole school. Everyone stares at her, people try to get in her way and stop her to talk with her for what feels like the eternity and there are even some creeps who just think it is perfectly normal to touch her face or hand. Thankfully, it doesn’t get worse than that with the touching. If it did, well, let’s just say that Dudley taught Harry how to throw a punch for such an occasion but Harry doesn’t fancy herself getting detention on the very first day. Thank god for Pansy. She quite elegantly managed to both insult the annoying offenders and drag Harry to the Great Hall, avoiding as many people as was humanly possible.

„I don’t get it. Everyone in the Slytherin has been so cool about everything so far. I mean, sure, some of you guys stared a bit yesterday, but none of you has gone...ugh, like that!“ she hissed and threw her hand in the direction somewhere behind her where just one Hufflepuff has tried to touch her scar without any kind of prompting or consent from her side.

„The Slytherins have something called manners unlike those apes, that’s why,“ Pansy snorts very unlady-like. Millicent and Daphne nod vigorously and Tracey just throws her a compassionate look and mouths „sorry“.

Harry wanted to go to Hufflepuff table to speak with Ron, but they come to the Great Hall and they see Professor Snape, the head of their house, giving the timetables to their fellow first-years so they rush to the table.

She sits down and immediately attacks the bacon.

„Hey,“ a familiar voice sounds beside her, making her jump.

She turns her head and comes face to face with a grinning ginger one-half of Weasley twins.

„Hey?“ she greets him back, taking in his robes in Slytherin colours. She would have sworn that both twins were in Gryffindor.

„Fred,“ the boy says, helping her to assign the right name to him. She nods, wondering whether she remembers the last night right.

She chances a glance toward the Hufflepuff table and sees Ron talking to the other twin. She blinks, taking in George’s robes of Hufflepuff’s colour. How strange.

„Doing good so far?“ Fred asks.

Harry nods silently, wondering whether she should ask him about that house matter. Maybe she saw it wrong last night. Then it might be embarrassing to ask him about it.

Professor Snape glides toward them then and pauses. His eyes trail over Harry’s face, making her uncomfortable, but in a different way than the other students did. There is just something in his expression that makes her nervous. His eyes do not travel up to her forehead where her scar is, instead they stop when their eyes meet. They look at each other for a few tense seconds and then his expression hardens.

He hands her timetable without a word and his gaze slides toward Fred.

„Ah, Mr Weasley,“ he sneers.

„How nice of you to visit us. I’m afraid you must do without a timetable though. Be sure to get it from your classmates. And as much I don’t care about what or how you attend your other classes, I will not hesitate to let both you and your brother fail the Potions unless I see you both in the classroom at. The. Same. Time,“ he says ominously.

What a jerk, Harry thinks. Fred just grins at him, not phased at all. Harry wonders what it all is about.

Before the professor takes his leave the owls flow into the hall with letters and packages in their beaks or tied to the birds‘ legs. One of them flies over them and drops a letter in a red envelope in front of her. Harry takes it and pauses as she notices Fred’s horrified look.

„What’s wrong?“ she asks.

Fred gulps and gives her a weak smile. „Just one advice, open it quickly. You don’t want to know what happens if you don’t.“

Harry is confused. Partly because of his words, partly because the letter seems to get hotter. So she opens it.

„HARRY POTTER, YOU LITTLE MINSK!“ Sirius‘ voice screams loudly and every head in the hall turns toward her.

„YOU GOT INTO SLYTHERIN? YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME!? I LOST A BET WITH REMUS BECAUSE OF YOU! HE SAYS HI. WE ARE ALL PROUD OF YOU AND WISH YOU GOOD FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! SAY HI TO SNIVELLUS FOR ME!“ The letter then bursts into flames, leaving Harry totally baffled.

Some of the students start snickering or out loud laughing at it. Fred is one of them. Harry miserably remembers Remus‘ warning and decides that he was right. She so does not want Sirius to write her every day.

She catches Professor Snape’s gaze. He looks pale and what she sees in his face she interprets as a very profound expression of empathy. She thinks she might have misjudged him. He gives her a pained look and then moves away. He seems to be very sympathetic.

Harry pierces the bacon with her fork and wonders, who might Snivellus be?


	5. The one with the first classes

„Here you are ladies, the Charms classroom!“ Fred theatrically throws his hands up and motions to the door.

Daphne and Millicent giggle, Pansy rolls her eyes and Tracey smiles sheepishly at the older boy. „Thanks, Fred,“ says Harry, glad that they didn’t have to search for the classroom on their own. The castle seems to be just a little bit worse than the worst labyrinth imaginable and Harry dreads the next class, which she and the girls will have to find on their own.

Fred gives them all thumbs up and then hurries away.

The girls don’t wait much longer and enter the classroom. It seems that they are the last ones there. Harry quickly scans the desk and realizes that they are to be seated in pairs. Too bad that there is five of them. Upon closer inspection, she notices Ron seated at the desk all by his own. Oh, right, she thinks. The joined class with the Hufflepuff.

She sends a look to her new friends who came to the same epiphany and are nervously looking at each other, not knowing how to resolve this seating dilemma.

„It’s alright,“ she says. „I’m gonna go sit with Ron.“

They nod and sit in the remaining two desks, Pansy with Tracey and Millicent with Daphne. Harry takes a deep breath and approaches Ron.

„Hey,“ she says and successfully startles him.

„Um, are you going to be a moron or outright stop being friends with me or can I sit with you?“ she asks when she notices the grimace he is wearing.

Ron’s ears turn bright red and he lowers his gaze. „I- I was going to. Not stop being friends with you! I didn't mean that. The moron thing. I mean, I didn’t want to be a moron, but I was thinking about you being in the Slytherin and all and I guess I overthought it and I would have been a moron I guess, but then George sat with me today at breakfast and told me I’m being a moron, so... I didn’t want to be a moron, but somehow I feel like I am now. The point is I don’t want to stop being friends with you so... will you sit with me?“

Harry chuckles. „You are a moron,“ she states and sits down. „But I like morons,“ she grins.

Ron grins back. „So... what was that with the howler this morning?“

Harry groans. „That was Sirius.“

„Your godfather?“

She nods. „I bet he thought it was funny.“

Ron grins again. „It was.“

„Not you too!“ she swats his arm. „It was mortifying. Don’t laugh, Ron! I bet he is going to do it again.“

„I sure hope so,“ he says and Harry groans again.

„Alright, change of topic. Fred and George?“ she asks and Ron nods immediately, not needing anything else.

„Right?! I asked George today. Yesterday, he sits with the Gryffindor and today Hufflepuff? And Fred Slytherin?“ he shakes his head, baffled.

„What did he say?“

„He just said that they have a system. What does it even mean?!“ Ron throws his hands up, exasperated.

Harry opens her mouth to respond but then the door opens and Professor Flitwick walks in, interrupting their talk.

Professor Flitwick is a tiny little wizard who has to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. He starts the first class with a roll call and squeak and topples out of sight when he reaches Harry’s name. Harry, who temporarily forgot that she is famous, has to overcome the urge to headbutt the desk.

Other than that the class continues quite normally for a wizarding class. Harry is rather disappointed to find that there is whole magical theory and rules they need to learn before actually learning how to cast a spell. Professor Flitwick enchants the chalk to write a set of notes on the board and tells them to copy it. Everyone but Harry pulls out parchment and ink and quill and starts. Harry scribbles ‚Charms‘ on the front page of her notebook and then proceeds in the task with her perfectly normal ballpen.

Ron gives her a surprised look and stares a little bit on her pen but then just shrugs and focuses on his quill. Harry stops writing for a moment to assess the writing supplies of the other students. Many of the others seem to have huge problems, ink spilling and staining their clumsy fingers. She silently thanks her aunt for not allowing her to buy those.

„Miss Potter.“ Harry looks up and sees Professor Flitwick staring directly at her. „Where is your quill?“ he questions.

„I don’t have one, sir.“

The tiny wizard tilts his head. „Why not?“

Harry is silent for a moment. „Becaaause it’s the 20th century?“

They stare at each other for a few moments and then the professor just turns away and scans the rest of the classroom. Harry catches Ron’s gaze, shrugs and returns to her notes. Run snorts. „Merlin’s beard, you have to meet my dad,“ he mumbles.

A variation of the same thing that happened at Charms also happens in every other classroom. In History of Magic though Professor Binns doesn’t do the roll call and just stares at her uncomfortably when she pulls out the pen and in Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall calls her name just like everyone else‘s and doesn’t shriek nor does her breath hitch but she questions her tirelessly about the pen. In the end, she deems the pen to be a ‚handsy little trinket‘ and calls Harry innovative.

As the days go by the Slytherin girls work out a seating arrangement. The classes they share with Hufflepuff Harry shares the desk with Ron, otherwise, she sits next to Tracey. Daphne, who has a friend in Ravenclaw, sits with her when they share a class and Pansy then sits with Millicent.

The staring and whispers of other students do not lessen when Harry passes by, but she is slowly learning to tune the others out. She and the girls get steadily better at navigating the castle even though everything from paintings to the doors and staircases seems to be moving around constantly. One of those things that changes every day is the table Harry finds the Weasley twins sit at. Tuesday, Fred sits at Gryffindor and George at Ravenclaw. Wednesday, they both sit at the Ravenclaw, the next day it’s just Fred alone there and George is at the Slytherin table. He sits next to Gemma and waves at Harry in greeting but doesn’t speak with her, unlike Fred.

Harry and Ron have had many conversations since their first one about the twins and what house if any they were sorted into. They even considered whether it is possible to be sorted into none or more than one house. A quick chat with Percy, Ron’s other older brother, revealed that no, it was not possible. They still question it.

By the time Friday morning comes by Ron is so desperate that he corners Professor Sprout. He comes by the Slytherin table to rely to her what he has learned.

„It’s no good!“ he snarls. „Sprout said that the two of them were sorted like everyone else. But she didn’t remember what house they were sorted into! No one remembers that, not even Percy. When I asked about the system, she was just confused and asked me what I meant. And when I asked how come they sit at different tables every day she just shrugged and said ‚Thank Merlin they do. It’s always a nice surprise not finding them at the Hufflepuff table.‘ Then she palled and run off when we entered the Hall and she noticed them both at our table. I’m actually afraid she has gone to throw herself into the Black Lake.“

Harry looks toward the Hufflepuff table and indeed, both twins are sitting there in the house’s colours. She gnaws at her lower lip furiously, frustrated with not knowing. She is not yet desperate enough to go ask Snape but she is starting to consider it. She really wants to figure it out.

„I heard they just do it to mess with everyone,“ Pansy jumps into the conversation.

„Possible. Probable,“ Ron concedes but Harry sees that he is hesitant to let it go, the same as her.

„And Merlin’s beard, Weasley, don’t just stand here, sit down!“ Pansy admonishes him and tugs his sleeve to make him sit with them.

„I can’t! This is not my table,“ he hisses but submits when Pansy gives him a glare.

„Doesn’t seem to bother your brothers all that much,“ she comments.

Millicent and Daphne grab an empty plate, pile it with toasts and scrambled eggs and push it in front of Ron while Tracey pours him orange juice. Ron doesn’t need much encouragement to start eating.

Gemma walks by them, throws an indignant look toward Ron and mutters a silent ‚Great! Another one.‘. Harry and Pansy urge Ron to ignore it.

The mail comes in and Harry watches the owls warily. She spots one holding a red envelope and groans.

Since the first one, she has sent another two letters to the Dursleys and one to Remus. She hasn’t written to Sirius, his first letter and Remus‘ warning discouraging her from it. It didn’t seem to be working.

Not a single day has gone by without Sirius sending her a howler. Tuesday, the whole Great Hall found out about two secret passages leading from the dungeons to the Transfiguration classroom and to the kitchen. At the diner, Harry was bombarded with complaints from the ones that tried them and ended up lost deep in the dungeons or somewhere in one of the towers and couldn’t find their way back. Harry cursed her godfather and was glad she didn’t try neither of the passages.

Wednesday, it was a twenty-minute long poem about a mole he found in his armpit which turned out to be chocolate. Truth be told, Harry was quite impressed with the rhymes. The next day Harry had to listen to him complaining about her writing to Remus instead of her ‚belowed godfather‘ and she almost turned deaf when the letter wailed ‚HARRYYYYYYY! WRITE MEEEEEE!‘ right into her ear.

When the letter lands in front of Harry she just looks at it dejectedly, not having the strength to open it. Pansy has to jab her between ribs to make her open it before it combusts. A loud wail comes out of the letter, something akin to a cat being choked to death. Then the letter destroys itself. The whole of the Great Hall starts to clap and cheer, a tradition that Fred and George established on Wednesday.

„What was that?“ questions Daphne.

„No idea,“ Harry answers, grimacing upon noticing the ashes in her oatmeal. She doesn’t know how one of those letters are made but it sounded to her like Remus choking Sirius in a desperate attempt to prevent him from sending another one of those.

Losing her appetite she pours herself a cup of tea when another letter is dropped into her bowl of oatmeal. This time, it’s a normal one. Thank god! She opens it and finds a single word scribbled in Remus‘ handwriting.

‚Sorry.‘

Yes, she feels sorry for herself as well.

They finish their breakfast and the girls head for the Double Potions. They still don’t know how they are going to sort their seating arrangements for this class, especially since they heard that they will be working in pairs.

The girls enter the classroom first and tentatively seat themselves. In the end, Pansy sits with Millicent, Tracey sits with Daphne and Harry sits by herself. They know that there is an even number of Slytherin boys and that one of them will have to share a desk with a Gryffindor. Pansy, Millicent and Daphne backed out of that one immediately. Tracey and Harry didn’t care, so they played rock, paper, scissors. Harry lost.

As the Gryffindors pour into the classroom it soon becomes evident that she is out of luck. Though there is an even number of Gryffindor boys and an odd number of girls, one of the boys sits down at the desk with one of the girls. In the end, there is just one boy who doesn’t have a partner.

Harry curses when Malfoy hesitantly saunters towards her. He clearly knows that he has no other choice but still hesitates. Harry doesn’t blame him. She doesn’t want to share a desk with him just as much. It is then that Professor Snape walks into the classroom. His eyes fall upon the standing boy and he gestures with his hand to the empty seat.

„Sit down Mr Malfoy. Or do you wait for an invitation?“

Malfoy purses his lips and sits down. Harry throws a pained look toward the other girls and is rewarded by Pansy’s eye-roll. Right, she and Malfoy are friends. Maybe she will manage to persuade her to sit next to him instead of her the next week.

Professor Snape starts the class with a roll call as well and just as most of the other professors, he pauses at Harry’s name.

He looks up from his scroll and stares at her the same way he did the first day, his eyes never straying up to search for her scar. Harry wishes he would stop. He doesn’t say anything and after a while continues with a roll call.

Harry wonders what all of that looks from her head of house are supposed to be. They aren’t the curious looks the other students or teachers give her. It almost seems as if Snape is searching for something in her face, but what Harry has no idea.

After the roll call, he proceeds to write on the board instruction for a simple potion to cure boils. Harry pulls out a new empty notebook and copies the notes. She startles once Snape speaks directly behind her. She hasn’t noticed him.

„What is that supposed to be, Miss Potter?“ His voice is just above the whisper, not betraying any emotion.

„My notebook?“ she answers in a question.

„And that ridiculous thing you use for writing?“ he asks again.

„A pen, sir.“

„A pen,“ he repeats with something like disdain colouring his voice. Harry wonders what about the pen is so offending to the wizard.

„Be sure to get proper writing supplies for the next class,“ he says and walks away to peak into another student’s notes.

„Is that muggle?“ She hears another voice whisper beside her and turns toward Malfoy, catching his eyes for the first time. He looks honestly curious.

She nods, her gaze falling to his hand holding the quill. She notices that his fingertips are covered in ink and there are few stains on his parchment as well. Though he doesn’t seem to be struggling as much as the other students with the quill and ink, he is still struggling a bit. Harry pulls another pen from her bag and places it next to his parchment.

„You can borrow it,“ she offers.

Malfoy sneers at her and pushes the pen back toward her. „I don’t need it.“ Harry leaves the pen where it is and ignores him while she writes down the rest of the notes.

They reluctantly work together to weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs and prepare the potion. Snape walks around the room, watches the students work and criticizes almost everything and everyone. Except for Harry and Malfoy, she notices. How strange.

It doesn’t really sit well with her, especially since she notices that the professor seems to be a lot meaner to the Gryffindor, but prefers to praise Slytherins. Except for Harry and Malfoy. He barely notices the two of them. Strange indeed.

A cloud of acid green smoke and loud hissing suddenly fills the dungeon. Neville Longbottom somehow managed to melt his cauldron and his potion is now seeping across the stone floor, burning holes into people’s shoes.

Harry and Malfoy quickly jump on their stools together with the rest of the class. Neville, who is drenched in the potion, moans in pain and Harry gags when she sees the boils sprang up all over his arms and legs. Snape yells at him and berates him and then vanishes the mess with a wave of his wand and instructs Neville’s partner to take him to the hospital wing. Then he once again throws a weird glance toward Harry.

„Get back to your cauldrons,“ he says to the whole class and breaks the eye contact.

Once the class is over, Harry nearly runs out of the dungeon. It was by far the most disturbing class from all. She does forget the pen she offered to Malfoy though.


End file.
